HYBRID Change

I have coined the phrase HYBRID change because I feel there is a big divide between fast ever changing technology and what people are comfortable with. There is plenty of Science, Technology and Innovation happening in the world but when you ask an everyday person about it they often say 'That's over my head' or' I hear the words coming out of your mouth but in a sentence I don't understand what you mean.' I have experienced this personally, I am a lover of Science and new innovations but there are articles that I read that really could be written in an alien language.  Luckily I do have some understanding and can translate and summarise them into words that I can understand, most of the time. I created a Facebook page called 'Debby's Simple Science Summaries' so that I can hopefully explain what I have read in my own simple words the wonderful daily innovations happening around the world.


So what I mean by HYBRID change is it is a blending of what we have now and new technology that is up and coming. Tesla motors is a great example of this. They currently use lithium batteries  as a power source rather than reinventing the wheel and making a new type of battery even though there are plenty of new options under R & D. They produce one of the most beautiful looking cars on the market and it is a 100% electric car. There are however only a small number of electric cars in the market place and very few places to recharge them in public. So what does Tesla do? They release the plans and technology free of charge into the market place so other much larger companies like General Motors can take advantage of their research and build their own cars but not only that they will increase production of parts and build electric car charging stations. So now there is a new model for business, Open sharing of knowledge that actually benefits each other and not to mention the environment.


How can we start this revolution in HYBRID change. Maybe by sharing information, communicating with people in the same industry or people not in the same industry. Networking, having meaningful conversations, creating meaningful friendships, having a luncheon with like minded people. Seeking new innovations and seeing how they could be used to enhance and build a better economy or business. The best leaders will be the ones that can think outside the traditional box that they are in. Most of all they will think how their consumers or the market will perceive them. They will introduce change without arrogance or authoritarian measures and they will find ways to reach a much larger market share then traditionally thought of.  They will look at what they already have, what consumers are already comfortable with and add a new benefit. It is essentially better customer service.


This way of introducing change will hopefully help fund more innovation rather than the millions of patents for new technologies or inventions sitting on a shelf being forgotten. New innovations are the catalyst for new start up businesses building a better economy and giving more people the opportunity to run their own business. HYBRID change a meshing of old and new.

Perception and Change

Perception is a funny thing. How one person sees something can be completely different to someone else. The most interesting thing is how we see ourselves. Australia for example is seen as the lucky country, rich in resources, great people, great food, great land and yet we are really quite isolated to the rest of the world. Our country is isolated and this may affect how we see ourselves and how we conduct business. Our political system is one of Local, State and Federal. These levels are intertwined but very rarely do they communicate effectively with one another. Information can easily get doubled up as one level researches something that another level has already researched. I brought this up recently with Kate Crawford who has a wide experience in the creative use of new information technologies to expand peoples ability to meet their needs and create new more sustainable ways of doing things. Her answer to me was 'open information, real open information.
I would like to add that the information needs to be short and to the point. No one wants to read 300 pages of waffle.


Currently China is again opening up the Silk road with it's 'One belt, One road' policy. This means that China is opening up trade and communication with the countries close to their borders and along the old Silk Road. China for many years was internal looking and now it's opening up to it's neighbours. They are expanding trade with nations big an small with in their community.


The current change in business sees organisation like Alibaba or Airbnb become $400 billion dollar companies because they take advantage of exponential market share. For example take a checker board. Imagine that's the earth. In the first box you tell one person about your product. In the next box there are two of you that tell two more about your product. In the next box there are 4 of you that tell 4 others about your product. If you keep doubling until you reach the last box you have nearly reached every one on earth.


So there is a shift in market perception. You reach out to the people around you and then they reach out to the people around them. You do this with the internet and social media. Australia would not be so isolated if we do this. We need to reach out to the countries that are not to far from our boarders. We need to communicate and trade with them much more than we currently do. We should not discriminate between the small countries and the large. We should not only concentrate on one large country when there are a wealth of smaller countries that are advancing much quicker than we are because they value innovation,  science, technology and investment into research and design more than we do. To this end we should embrace the new age of technology that is driving the surge in giant global companies that use current internet capabilities to market to the whole world, not just the physical radius around their physical head quarters. The great thinker and scientist Dr. Michio Kaku visited Australia last year and the first message that came out of his mouth was:
'You can cut the Science budget, but you will pay a price, 'What is the price? Poverty,' 'Commodities will be important, but they mean less in the future.' 'More and more value will come not from commodity but from the mind.' 'We need to encourage young people to leap into the forefront of intellectual capitalism.'
Australia did indeed cut our Science budget.
So do you think it is time to change our perception of ourselves? For our future. I think maybe it is.